George McDade Staples was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, where he served from 1998 to 2001. He was later appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as ambassador to Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. He served in … Read MoreGeorge McDade Staples (1947– )
Donald McHenry is a diplomat, scholar, corporate governor and educator who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN). Because the hospitals of his home town, East St. Louis, Illinois, where he would grow up, were segregated, McHenry was born in St. Louis, Missouri … Read MoreDonald Franchot McHenry (1936- )
Diplomat, scholar and author Hugh Heyne Smythe was born on August 19, 1913 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mother was a housemaid and his father, who died when Smythe was three years old, was a mailman. One of five siblings, at age six Smythe was forced … Read MoreHugh Heyne Smythe (1913-1977)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Career Foreign Service Officer Bernadette Mary Allen was commissioned into the U.S. diplomatic service in January 1980. Twenty-five years later, on October 26, 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Allen to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Niger. She … Read MoreBernadette Mary Allen (1955- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Wanda L. Nesbitt holds the rank of Career Minister in the U.S. Foreign Service. She joined the United States Foreign Service in 1981. She was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar by President George W. Bush and served in that capacity from … Read MoreWanda L. Nesbitt (1956– )
Cynthia Shepard Perry, a Republican and 25 year career diplomat, has served three Republican presidents. President Ronald Reagan appointed her as Chief of Education and Human Resources of the U.S. Agency for International Development where she served from 1982 to 1986, and named her Ambassador … Read MoreCynthia Shepard Perry (1928- )
Clinton Everett Knox was the first African American secretary to the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and former United States Ambassador to the countries of Dahomey (Benin) and Haiti. Clinton E. Knox was born May 5, 1908, in New Bedford, … Read MoreClinton E. Knox (1908-1980)
Susan Page is the first U.S. Ambassador to the newly formed nation of South Sudan. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on August 18 and confirmed October 18, 2011. Page arrived in the capital city of Juba on December 6, 2011. Page graduated in … Read MoreSusan Denise Page (1964- )
Barbara M. Watson, businesswoman, lawyer, government executive, and diplomat, was born in New York City, New York on November 5, 1918. She was the daughter of James S. Watson, the first black judge elected in New York State, and his wife, Violet Lopez Watson, one of the founders of the National Council of … Read MoreBarbara Mae Watson (1918-1983)
Anne Forrester Holloway was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mali on November 6, 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. She was the first African American woman to hold that post. Forrester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 2, 1941. She attended public schools in Philadelphia but then transferred … Read MoreAnne Forrester Holloway (1941-2006)
